STORIES

Last year alone, parents from Surrey, Delta, White Rock and Langley logged more than 24,000 visits to Vancouver because their children needed to see pediatric specialists.

That’s more than a million kilometres on the road, as well as time away from jobs, school and family commitments. By locating more specialist clinics at Surrey Memorial Hospital, thousands of families could receive the same care much closer to home.

The solution? We need help from the community to transform our 17-year-old Children’s Health Centre. With your donations, we can create a much bigger, child-friendly outpatient area with dedicated day surgery space and easy access to a new outside play area.

Dr. Hemendra Ramdhani, Head of Pediatrics for Surrey, explains that Surrey already provides specialized clinics for children, including services for diabetes, cardiology and neurology. But due to space constraints, it’s impossible to add more clinic time or give local families access to more specialties, such as gastroenterology, that are not available in Surrey.

“There are a large numbers of patients who could be getting treatment here rather than traveling to Vancouver,” he says. “If families can avoid spending half a day driving, it’s a win-win situation for parents. They don’t need to miss work and they can get quality care close to home.”

Dr. Ramdhani sees the need continuing to grow. Surrey continues to attract new families, and the hospital’s dedicated Pediatric Emergency now sees 38,000 visits a year, up from 20,000 three years ago – a 90 per cent increase.

While families appreciate having the Pediatric Emergency in the community, the increase in use means that more children need specialized follow up care as outpatients or admission to hospital.

The new outpatient area will support family-centred care and allow the team to increase the number of clinics. At the same time, it will also free up space in the inpatient unit to add additional beds when needed.

Your donation can help the pediatric team care for more kids closer to home.